Virtualizing Microsoft SQL on VMware vSphere

Improve Business Agility

Rapidly Provision SQL Servers with Virtual Machine Templates

On physical hardware, deploying a new SQL Server can take days or weeks to procure the hardware, install and configure the infrastructure, and install the associated applications and updates. Eliminating repetitive operating system installation and patching tasks with virtual machine templates can speed deployment times. You can deploy new virtual machines with a core configuration in a matter of minutes, allowing rapid provisioning of applications into production.

Scale Dynamically with CPU and Memory Hot-Add

Databases are particularly difficult to size. Administrators are often forced to forecast capacity requirements for three to five years in the future and then translate that estimate into system specifications (CPU, memory, storage). Any sizing errors require the application to be re-provisioned, causing downtime and major disruption to the application. With the vSphere Hot-add feature, applications can be provisioned in a “future proof” manner. As applications grow over time and require more compute, memory, network or storage resources, scale up virtual machines dynamically and on the fly, without disrupting the application or requiring complex re-provisioning.

Enhance Testing and Troubleshooting with Cloned Production Virtual Machines

Shorten time to resolution of critical issues and reduce their overall impact on the production environment with VMware-enabled testing and troubleshooting. Use live snapshots of virtual machines to instantly roll back to a previous known good configuration. Make an exact, independent copy of any virtual machine in your environment with cloning. The copy can then be installed in a test environment for offline testing and troubleshooting. Share virtual machines with third parties such as consultants, other partners and vendors and eliminate the need to create a duplicate environment to reproduce problems. In complex application environments supported by SQL Server, this capability is especially valuable.

Improve Your Business Continuity

Protect All Applications with Simple High Availability

Simplify application availability by eliminating the need to use complex and expensive application-specific clustering solutions.
VMware vMotion and
DRS can reduce planned downtime and balance workloads dynamically while
VMware HA can help recover SQL Servers in the case of host failure. At the application level, all Microsoft features and techniques are supported on vSphere, including database mirroring, failover clustering and log shipping, so you can use the best features from both VMware and Microsoft.

Provide Cost-Effective Disaster Recovery

Ensure fast, simple and cost-effective recovery by automating the recovery process and eliminating the complexity of managing and testing customized recovery plans with
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager. Reduce costs by eliminating the need for dedicated hardware at the remote site.